Tracee Joy Silberstein born October 29, 1972, known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress, singer, television host, producer and director. She is known for her lead roles in the television series Girlfriends (2000–2008) and Black-ish (2014–present). Ross owns Pattern Beauty, a hair-care line for curly hair.
Ross is the daughter of actress and Motown recording artist Diana Ross and Robert Ellis Silberstein. She began acting in independent films and variety series. She hosted the pop-culture magazine The Dish on Lifetime. From 2000 to 2008, she played the starring role of Joan Clayton in the UPN/CW comedy series Girlfriends, for which she received two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She also has appeared in the films Hanging Up (2000), I-See-You.Com (2006), and Daddy’s Little Girls (2007), before returning to television playing Dr. Carla Reed on the BET sitcom Reed Between the Lines (2011), for which she received her third NAACP Image Award.
Since 2014, Ross has played the starring role of Dr. Rainbow Johnson in the ABC comedy series Black-ish. Her work on the series has earned her three NAACP Image Awards and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She has also received nominations for two Critics’ Choice Television Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. In 2019, she co-created a prequel spin-off of Black-ish titled Mixed-ish. In 2020, Ross starred and recorded the soundtrack album for the musical film, The High Note.
Early life
Born Tracee Joy Silberstein in Los Angeles, California, she is the daughter of Motown singer/actress Diana Ross and music business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein. Actor and musician Evan Ross is her half-brother. Her father is Jewish. Her mother is African-American and a Baptist. She adopted the name Tracee Ellis Ross, wishing to retain both of her parents’ names after her father dropped the name Silberstein. She has two sisters: Rhonda Ross Kendrick and Chudney Lane Silberstein.
When her mother married Arne Næss Jr. in 1985, Tracee gained three step-siblings: Katinka, Christoffer, and folk singer Leona Naess; she remains on close terms with all of them. Before her mother and Naess divorced in 1999, they welcomed her two half-brothers, Ross Arne in 1987 and Evan Ross in 1988. After the divorce Naess married Camilla Astrup.
Ross attended The Dalton School in Manhattan, Riverdale Country School in the Bronx and the Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland. She was a model in her teens. She attended Brown University, where she appeared in plays, and graduated in 1994 with a theatre degree. She later worked in the fashion industry, as a model and contributing fashion editor to Mirabella and New York magazines.
Ross has ptosis, affecting her right eye-lid slightly. Following a speech at the American Music Awards internet trolls commented on this, leading Ross to post an Instagram video saying “I know y’all make fun of my eyes, you know what I mean? Well, f**ck off, ’cause it’s not my fault, alright? My body does what it does, I don’t know why. But sometimes when I’m tired, this one just gives up, and it’s like, ‘Goodnight!’…”Go ahead, make fun of my eyes, OK? But I think they’re nice, I think they’re so nice, I do.”
Career
Early works
Ross made her big-screen debut in 1996, playing a Jewish/African-American woman in the independent feature film Far Harbor. The following year, she debuted as host of The Dish, a Lifetime TV magazine series keeping tabs on popular culture. In 1998, she starred as a former high school track star who remained silent about having been abused at the hands of a coach, in the NBC made-for-TV movie Race Against Fear: A Moment of Truth. Her next role was an independent feature film titled Sue. In 2000, she landed her first major studio role in Diane Keaton’s Hanging Up. That same year, she broke into comedy as a regular performer in the MTV series The Lyricist Lounge Show, a hip-hop variety series mixing music, dramatic sketches, and comedic skits. In February 2006 she starred in Kanye West’s “Touch The Sky” MTV music video, playing the role of the best friend of Kanye’s ex.
2000–2013: Breakthrough with Girlfriends
Ross with Mara Brock Akil and Girlfriends cast in 2013
Ross’s biggest career achievement came when she landed the lead role in the hit UPN/CW series Girlfriends, starring as the show’s protagonist Joan Carol Clayton — a successful (and often neurotic) lawyer looking for love, challenges, and adventure. The series centered on four (later three) young African-American women, and their male best friend. In 2007, Ross won an NAACP Image Award in the category, Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on the series. She won a second Image Award for the role in 2009.
In 2007, Ross starred with her brother Evan Ross and Queen Latifah in the HBO movie Life Support. That same year, she appeared in the Tyler Perry theatrical movie Daddy’s Little Girls. She appeared in the 2009 film Labor Pains.
In 2010, she appeared in an episode of Private Practice as a pregnant doctor. In 2011, Ross appeared in four episodes of CSI as the estranged wife of Laurence Fishburne’s character.
Ross starred in the sitcom Reed Between the Lines with Malcolm-Jamal Warner airing on BET starting in October 2011. She won a third NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012 for her performance in the series. In August 2012, it was announced that Ross would not return for Season Two. In 2011, she appeared in the Lifetime film Five directed by Alicia Keys. The performance in the film earned her nominations for an NAACP Image Award and Black Reel Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie or Mini-Series. In 2012, Ross starred in the NBC drama pilot Bad Girls.
2014–present: Black-ish and mainstream success
Ross at the 2014 NAACP Image Awards
In 2014, Ross was cast in the ABC comedy series Black-ish, opposite Anthony Anderson. She plays the female lead role of Dr. Rainbow Johnson. The series debuted with generally positive reviews from critics. Ross received three NAACP Image Awards and received nominations for two Critics’ Choice Television Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for her performance in the series. Ross’s 2016 nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series was the first for an African-American woman in that category in 30 years. The same year, Ross and Anderson faced off on Spike’s Lip Sync Battle. She emerged victorious with performances of Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” and Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield”.
In 2015, Ross was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine art (honoris causa) by Brown University. Ross hosted the BET Awards in 2015 and 2016, and the American Music Awards in 2017 and 2018. She also hosted The Fashion Awards in 2019.
As of 2018, as CEO of Pattern Beauty LLC of El Segundo, California, Ross produces a line of “Juicy and Joyful” beauty hair care products made with safe ingredients for curls and promotes support organizations to empower women and people of color. Ross appeared in the fourth episode of A Little Late with Lilly Singh, an NBCUniversal daily late-night TV talk show format series discussing popular culture.
In 2019, Ross created, alongside Kenya Barris, a prequel spin-off of Black-ish called Mixed-ish. Ross serves as a narrator for the series starring Tika Sumpter and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Ross will star in and executive produce the adult animated comedy Jodie, the first in a series of spin-offs based on MTV’s Daria franchise. Ross will voice the title character, Jodie.
In 2020, Ross played the leading role as Grace Davis, the legendary superstar singer, in the musical comedy-drama film The High Note for Focus Features. The High Note marks the first big-screen role for Ross since the 2007 comedy-drama Daddy’s Little Girls. The film was scheduled to be theatrically released on May 8, 2020, but the theatrical release was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film later moved its release date to May 29, 2020, through video on demand. In The High Note Ross made her singing debut, recording a soundtrack album titled The High Note (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). The lead single, pop-ballad “Love Myself” was released on May 15, 2020 through Republic Records.
Ross emceed the second night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. More recently, she signed a deal with ABC Signature.